LEAGUE OF RED CROSS SOCIETIES The League of Red Cross societies was formed in 1919 on the proposal of H. P. Davison, president of the War Council of the American Red Cross, by the Red Cross societies of France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States, for the purpose of developing and intensifying the humanitarian activities of the Red Cross in time of peace. By 1928 the league had grown to include 5o national Red Cross societies, and its statutes, revised in and again in 1927, define its objects as follows: The objects of the league are to encourage and facilitate at all times Red Cross action for the relief of suffering humanity. It shall for this purpose: I. Encourage and promote in every country, the establishment and development of a duly authorized voluntary national Red Cross organ ization working in accord with the principles of the Geneva Conven tion.
2. Collaborate with these organizations in the improvement of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation of suffering.
3. Place within the reach of all peoples the benefits to be derived from present known facts and new contributions to science and medical knowledge and their application.
The league has a board of governors comprising one representa tive of each member society, and the board, when not in session, delegates its authority to an executive committee of ten members. The expenses of the league are met by the voluntary contributions I of member societies, the greater part of the financial burden I having thus far been carried by the American Red Cross. More than 3o national societies, however, make annual grants towards the league's budget.
The international activities of the league are carried out under the direct supervision of the chairman of the board of governors or one of the three vice-chairmen, by an international secretariat whose headquarters, originally situated in Geneva, were trans ferred to Paris in 1922. It comprises in addition to the various branches of the secretary-general's office, technical divisions cor responding to the principal peacetime activities of Red Cross societies, viz., disaster relief ; health (with special emphasis on
popular health education and preventive activities) ; nursing; junior Red Cross; and emigration.
The foundation of the league preceded by a few weeks the signing of the covenant of the League of Nations, of which article 25 reads as follows: The members of the league agree to encourage and promote the establishment and co-operation of duly authorized voluntary national Red Cross organizations having as purposes the improvement of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world.
This confirmation in the Covenant of the central points in the league's programme was indicative of the widespread sentiment which lay behind the decision of the national Red Cross societies after the war to widen their horizon and to extend their activities to the relief of all forms of preventable suffering. The most im mediate tangible result of this decision, and of the consequent activities of the League of Red Cross societies has been the extension of the Red Cross movement into a large number of countries to which it had not previously penetrated—in particular to the countries of the South American continent, where the association of the Red Cross with the idea of war had not found favour, but where the idea of a great international movement grouping together all the principal elements which seek to protect mankind against its natural enemies in time of peace, made an immediate appeal.
The league secretariat has actively co-operated in the organiza tion of 23 national Red Cross societies in countries where no independent and duly recognized Red Cross societies existed prior to 1919.
Parallel with this increase in the number of societies existing has come an increase in the Red Cross membership all over the world. At the end of 1925 it could fairly be estimated that the total number of Red Cross members in the world (including junior members) amounted to over 17,000,000.